Highway: from Threat to Action in Unity

Since the Highway Task Force (HTF) was formed by the community on July 12th, , our team has been steadily working on a multitude of tasks, including all kinds of fact-finding and research, strategising action, drafting messages, meetings with government and other institutions and individuals, and preparing maps and documentation on social and environmental impact for the region.

In a nutshell, we are confident that better options for the highway alignment can be explored in collaboration with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The main objective now is to persuade the relevant authorities that this highway, even with the proposed shift to the edge of the Master Plan (‘second alignment’), would be disastrous for Auroville and the surrounding area.

An overview from mid July to date, in continuation of the AVToday article in the August issue:

23rd July and 5th August: Over 200 Aurovilians gathered around the Banyan at Matrimandir for protection of Auroville.

24th July: HTF members and a member of the Governing Board (GB) met the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Pondicherry Dr. Kiran Bedi, who advised them to come back with some technical details and evidence of wide-based support from the people concerned. On 30th we went back with a petition signed by 400 Auroville residents and another petition from Kuilapalayam and Bommayarpalayam with over 700 signatures. All meetings with LG have been very supportive.

26th July: HTF members and the Working Committee (WC) met with Kuilapalayam residents who expressed their extreme grief and objection to the highway’s second alignment close to their village. We explained that we were equally opposed to both alignments, and that we need to work together to prevent them.

1st to 3rd August: A second delegation from Auroville met with the NHAI Chairman in Delhi and presented our case, including possible alternatives, some of which might even be more economical. We were told that NHAI would look into our proposal. Eight meetings took place in three days, including with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (the ministry directly responsible for Auroville), with the Chairman and a member of our Governing Board, and with our Member of Parliament (MP) from Villupuram district. We are grateful for the peaceful oasis of the Delhi Ashram which hosted us.

Note: We have since learnt that the alternative routes proposed from Auroville to NHAI were drawn in understandable panic and rushed preparation for the first visit to NHAI, without complete information about continuation of the planned highway towards south [see AV Today #349, August issue]. Hence these options are not applicable. Another hurdle on our way has been an email from the Working Committee sent after the visit of 2nd July to the NHAI officer. Meant as a thank-you note for receiving the delegation and considering adjustment to the alignment, it was understood and filed as an official acceptance from Auroville of the second alignment just east of the Masterplan circle.

Among the next steps was a Residents Assembly Decision (RAD), for the Residents Assembly (RA) to clearly voice its stance – as described in the Auroville Foundation Act – and to be officially conveyed through the Foundation. Besides the RA, two other bodies complete the Auroville Foundation, i.e. the GB and the International Advisory Council (IAC, currently not constituted). The two resolutions, one on the highway and one on reappointing the IAC, received massive support from the community.

Meanwhile an online petition by an Indian citizen, www.change.org/p/protect-the-affores-tation-attempts-of-auroville, has gathered over 70,000 signatures to date and is ongoing, with moving and uplifting comments appreciating the work done in Auroville.

Our MP called a meeting with the Collector of Villupuram on 14th August, with seven Aurovilians and two representatives from Kuilapalayam. The Collector clarified that his role is mainly for land acquisition and to maintain law and order. He advised us to consider the cost of any possible alternatives, the fact that these routes should bypass Pondicherry too (the intention is not a link with the Tindivanam highway but a bypass to join the Villupuram-Cuddalore-Nagapattinam road), and that any alternatives should not have a negative environmental impact or meet with social resistance, displace people or affect their livelihood. He proposed to call for a meeting in his office with the Project Director and staff from NHAI Chennai.

We updated the Governing Board during their meeting on 8th September and asked for their support with official contacts. The role of our Secretary Mr. Chunkath, who was out of country in July and August, would be crucial in all future steps.

Meanwhile, members of PondyCAN joined HTF in a meeting on 28th July, bringing in a wider regional perspective in relation to the highway. We are confident that through an inclusive process with all stakeholders, the best routing can be found, preserving peace and harmony as well as our vulnerable natural environment. A meeting at the Tibetan Pavilion on 16th August brought together representatives from Marakkanam in the north to Cuddalore in the south, followed by a successful full-day seminar on various bioregional planning aspects in Pondicherry on 11th September. (More to follow in the November issue of Auroville Today about this important initiative.)

After a pause of more than a month, suddenly the renewed activity of surveyors in Auroville’s greenbelt in mid-September naturally raised deep-seated concern and anxieties, testing our faith and equanimity individually and collectively.

We have been assured that in spite of such unnerving signs, the highway plan is still in an exploratory phase with many important factors pending. The Environmental Impact Assessment which is mandatory for such a project has clear guidelines, and many of its criteria will speak volumes against the proposed alignment. We are also aware that the reaction of the local population is crucial for the Government, which cannot ignore it. We see the case of Chennai-Salem highway, also under the ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’, which has been stalled by the High Court.

François was able to obtain a meeting on 20th September with the Principal Secretary of the Prime Ministers’ Office in Delhi. Three of us met with him to bring to his attention the highway issue, and highlighted many unique aspects of Auroville, “a beacon for the world” in the words of the Prime Minister. We also met two other Secretaries in the same Office, including one who, as a former District Collector of Villupuram, knows Auroville intimately. All these meetings were very positive, and the work continues.

Ultimately, the external threat of this highway – in the words of a former chairman of Auroville International, a situation of ‘all hands on deck’ – is also a leverage to accelerate our inner alignment to the ideals of Auroville: an effective human unity, and being at the service of the divine consciousness. Every challenge we are facing now forces us to go deeper inside and work within and among ourselves, with sincerity, humility, gratitude, perseverance, aspiration, receptivity, progress, courage, goodness, generosity, equality and peace.

“We must learn to rely only on the Divine Grace and to call for its help in all circumstances; then it will work out constant miracles.” The Mother